April 10, 2010

South Texas College of Law was crowned champion of the ABA's National Appellate Advocacy Competition today, besting a field of 196 other teams that started the march to Chicago back in February. University of Texas School of Law was the runner-up. Texas Tech University School of Law and South Texas's second team were the semifinalists.

This is the second-straight NAAC championship for South Texas, and its fifteenth overall.

But they didn't stop at the big trophy -- Zach Bowman of the championship team was also awarded the National Best Advocate prize, and South Texas's second team won the National Best Brief award.

The victory was particularly impressive in light of the fact that the winning team entered the break rounds as the number 16 seed, having gone 0-2 in the preliminary rounds on account of an extraordinarily low-scoring brief. That South Texas was able to keep its point differential close enough to snatch the last octafinalist spot is a testament to just how incredible they were orally. It also highlights the ridiculous disparity in moot court brief grading; despite its low brief score here in Chicago, that team had the third-best brief in its region, which was two spots higher than the other South Texas brief that ultimately won the National Best Brief prize.

Congrats to my friends Rob "Darth" Galloway, Gerald "Emperor" Treece, and their amazing students on what is truly a remarkable accomplishment.

The national finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition kicked off yesterday in Chicago. After two preliminary rounds, the field of 24 is now down to the "Sweet Sixteen." In other words, it's now a "March Madness"-style bracketed tournament, with the 1 seed versus 16 seed, etc., until the last two teams standing meet Saturday morning in the national championship game.

Two teams had to be artificially re-seeded, as the rules dictate that two teams from the same school cannot meet each other until the championship match and the bracket must be "broken" at the outset of the elimination rounds. I've noted those below.

The top 16 teams, in order of their seeds:

1. Liberty University School of Law2. South Texas College of Law3. University of Oklahoma Law Center4. Texas Tech University School of Law5. Baylor Law School (originally #6 seed)6. Texas Tech University School of Law (originally #5 seed)7. Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (originally #8 seed)8. University of Oklahoma Law Center (originally #7 seed)9. American University Washington College of Law10. Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law11. University of Texas School of Law12. Loyola Law School Los Angeles13. Seton Hall University School of Law14. Emory University School of Law15. University of Miami School of Law16. South Texas College of Law